Has anyone ever built their own speakers with a kit? I thought that it might be a cool project to do but I don't know if it is worth the effort vs reward. If anyone has done it where would I begin and where is the best place to get a good kit?
partexpress have everything you need for DIY project, but IMHO they only yield OK result, don't expect those stuff to sound as good or anywhere close to what you get from Axiom, B&W, and the like. If you're on very tight budget....take a good look at the Paradigm Atom, can be had for about $160~$180.
Never done it from a kit, though just out of high school a buddy and I got into speaker building... he built towers and a centre, the centre I built (well, mostly designed and wired - woodworking isn't my strongest skill) is still in use in my HT now. It's good but not great... the book and measurements only get you so far... testing and build quality are the rest (not to mention the speaker's, what... 12 years old?)
The best metaphor I can think of is... building your own speaker is like rolling your own tampons... you could, but... except for the satisfaction you'd get from doing it, why would you?
Bren R.
In reply to:
building your own speaker is like rolling your own tampons... you could, but... except for the satisfaction you'd get from doing it, why would you?
That definitely gets simile of the week, month, and year.
As usual, thanks for the laugh Bren.
I wasn't sure if i were to smile or gag at that thought.
Classic metaphor that I'm sure could only come from you. I did do some research and the good kits are up around $350-$450. For that amount the interest has lessened. Like you said Bren, it is for the satisfaction of building something that MAY come out OK. I'm sure you look at that center with a little more pride then if it was just another 12 yr old speaker. I have heard some people say that building your own will supply you with a great speaker at a fraction of the cost of a store speaker. So I though, "what the F**K". May have to do some more research.
I look at the centre about as fondly as I would any 1992 speaker - at the time, the buddy of mine would wind his own coils, he had books full of info on porting, cap values and coil winding. For all intents and purposes, it's every bit as good as what was commercially available.
But technology was a little different then - it was size of the box, porting diameter and depth for driver size. End stop.
It's kind of assumptuous to think a weekend warrior can build a better speaker than a speaker design company... that is, besides slapping a couple of 6x9s in a box for tailgate parties and such.
The most I've done since then with consumer stuff has been to replace drivers in my brother's bass cabinet and add a set of deck-mounted 6x9 3-ways to our old LeBaron.
Bren R.